https://leader.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1867549Initial Aphasia Treatments More Cost-Effective Than Later OnesInitial aphasia treatment sessions result in relatively larger and more cost-effective benefits than later aphasia treatment sessions, according to preliminary results published Feb. 26 in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. But the authors caution that these results have limitations, and recommend prospective studies to examine the cost-effectiveness of speech-language ...2014-05-01T00:00:00Research in Brief

Initial aphasia treatment sessions result in relatively larger and more cost-effective benefits than later aphasia treatment sessions, according to preliminary results published Feb. 26 in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. But the authors caution that these results have limitations, and recommend prospective studies to examine the cost-effectiveness of speech-language treatment for people with aphasia.

Researchers—led by Charles Ellis of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston—completed a retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis using experimental data from 19 published aphasia treatment studies. Based on participants’ pre- and post-treatment proficiency scores, the average cost-effectiveness ratio for all sessions was $9.54 for each 1 percent increase in the outcome of interest. Measures of incremental cost-effectiveness indicated that aphasia treatments resulted in statistically significant improvements through 17 treatment sessions. Increases in proficiency occurred at a cost of approximately $7 per 1 percent increase for the first three sessions to more than $20 in the 14th session.